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South Florida Bulls @ West Virginia Mountaineers (-10.5)

This is a big Thursday night game that will be aired on ESPN. South Florida is coming off an ugly 13-9 loss against Syracuse last week. West Virginia covered their 26.5 point spread by beating UNLV last week 49-10. They are now

South Florida takes advantage of the generous points given to them tonight.

ranked in the AP top 25 at #25.

Let’s talk about the head-to-head match-up between these two teams though. South Florida has won three of the last four games SU and are 4-0 ATS in the last four meetings with the Mountaineers. Last year, South Florida topped them 30-19. Clearly, West Virginia is the better team this year, but in my opinion are getting way too many points tonight. I see West Virginia winning this game, but definitely in a close one. South Florida covers the spread.

The Bulls last victory against their last five games versus ranked opponents was against West Virginia last year. Coach Holtz knows that this year is different with West Virginia improving dramatically throwing the ball when they’re usually known for their running game.

Holtz as a coach is 20-4-1 ATS as a dog when facing a team with at least one loss on the season. Coach of the Mountaineers,, Stewart,  is 8-15 ATS when laying points. Vegas made a mistake and gave the Bulls too many points.

Prediction: Mountaineers 24 – Bulls 20

Pick Against the Spread: South Florida +10.5…

Minnesota Vikings @ New York Jets (-5)

Chemistry is the key word tonight for the Vikings, and I see it happening between Moss and Favre tonight. Moss, who has been able to catch anything within reach, and Favre loving to throw the ball deep, should be the perfect match and potentially a win tonight for Minnesota. Moss will be able to stretch the field for Minnesota, therefore giving

He's back..

opportunities to Adrian Peterson all night long to run the football. Tampa Bay took advantage coming off their bye week by upsetting the Bengals, let’s see if Minnesota can take advantage of coming off theirs.

Minnesota has definitely been looking for someone like Moss to be acquired to their team. They have only four passes for 20+ yards this season, and that’s the fewest in the NFL. The Jets are ranked fourth in rush defense, but will have their work cut out for them tonight with Peterson, who ranks second in the NFL in rushing yards per game.

Minnesota is 5-0 ATS in their last five week five games, as well as 4-1 ATS in their last five against a team with a winning record.

Prediction: Vikings 24 – Jets 17

Pick Against the Spread: Minnesota +5…

NFL Week 5 Picks for 4:00/4:15 games.

New Orleans Saints (-7) @ Arizona Cardinals

The key for the Saints this week is to slow down on their turnovers. In their last two games they’ve fumbled the ball four times, still managing to stay in the plus column in that department. The one good thing is that their about to face a

Drew Brees has accumulated 1131 passing yards so far this season.

Cardinals team who allows 29.5 PPG and 388 yards per game. The Saints are still without Reggie Bush. Since Arizona has such a sad defense allowing 155 rushing yards per game, maybe the Saints will get their running game going finally.

New Orleans has won the past two meetings, but fell 34-10 in their last meeting in Arizona in ’04. I like that the Saints are 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings with Arizona.

Prediction: Saints 34 – Arizona 13

Pick Against the Spread: New Orleans -7

San Diego Chargers (-6.5) @ Oakland Raiders

The Chargers head into this game coming off two regular season wins last season winning 24-20 in Oakland and 24-16 in San Diego. Not only did they sweep the series last year, but also the five years previous to that. The Raiders have lost the four of their games by a combines 93 points.

I think this game has the making of being close most of the way, with San Diego pulling out some late offense to cover the spread. San Diego is 7-1 ATS in their last eight meetings in Oakland and 11-3 in the last 14 meetings.

Prediction: Chargers 27 – Raiders 20

Pick Against the Spread: San Diego -6.5

Tennessee Titans @ Dallas Cowboys (-7)

Dallas better be able to …

NFL Week 5 Picks for 1:00 Games

Atlanta Falcons (-3) @ Cleveland Browns

Cleveland hosts Atlanta Sunday afternoon with both teams coming off a win. Cleveland has been one of the best teams ATS this year as well as last year. An offense lead by Matt Ryan was supposed to be the Falcons strength coming into this season, but their defense has been why they’ve won three in a row. Jake Delhomme isn’t the for sure starter yet, but he is going to have his hands full with this Falcon defense. The Falcons offense ranks sixth in the NFL averaging 389.3

Arian Foster has emerged as one of the league's best backs.

yards a game along with 23.3 points per game. Delhomme, if named the starter, had success against the Falcons last year throwing for 589 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions in two games against them with Carolina. Peyton Hillis has been a key to the Browns even hanging around in all of their games, and was a huge key in their win last week against the Bengals. He is ranked 11th in the NFL against the run with 96.3 yards rushed a game.

I think Cleveland is going to come ready to play at home coming off a win. They are 5-1 ATS in their last six at home, and 7-1 in their last eight as a dog. Peyton Hillis is going to have another big game going over 100 yards rushing with at least one touchdown.

Prediction: Falcons 21 – Browns 20

Pick Against the Spread: Browns +3

Denver Broncos @ Baltimore Ravens (-7)

The Ravens are coming off a huge win against the Steelers in Week Four. The Ravens have the #1 defense when it comes …

Nevada Wolf Pack @ UNLV Rebels

I really like Nevada tonight. They’ve opened up to a perfect start not only their first four games but also going a perfect 3-0 ATS thus far. Their offense has been dominating averaging 44.8 points per game. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick has had a great start to the season and takes really good care of the ball, which is giving the Wolf Pack 242 pass yards per game.

Look for Nevada to keep the ball on the ground tonight.

Nevada has had a couple impressive back to back wins cruising to an easy victory against Cal in week three, then handling BYU 27-13 in week four. Last year Nevada smashed the Rebels 63-28 as only 6.5 point favorites.

UNLV, on the other hand, has only one win under their belt. They snapped their three game losing streak to open the year, beating New Mexico 45-10 last week. Their 45 points last week actually was more than the amount of points they scored in the first three weeks combined.

Look for Nevada to pound the ball on the ground this game. UNLV is allowing 161 running yards per game. Last year, that’s exactly how Nevada took it to them. The Wolf Pack accumulated 559 yards on the ground last season. If Nevada can keep racking up yards, look for an easy cover.

Trends:

• Nevada is 7-0 ATS in their last seven after a win.
• Nevada is 4-0 ATS in their last four road games.
• Nevada is 4-1 in their last five non-conference games.
• Nevada is 7-2 in their last nine games overall.
• Nevada is 5-0 ATS in the last five meetings between these two teams.
• UNLV is 0-6 in their last six against a team with

Texas A&M Aggies @ Oklahoma State Cowboys

We have a Big 12 match-up Thursday night with two undefeated teams. Both teams were on a bye week last week and it will be their first conference game. The past two meeting have been very high scoring, and Oklahoma State has come out on top in both winning 56-28 (as a 26 point favorite) and then winning last season 36-31 (as a 5 point favorite, pushing).

The Oklahoma State offense is too much for the Aggies' defense.

Both teams have very efficient offenses, as Oklahoma State actually ranks 2nd in the nation in passing yards this season. Oklahoma state crushed Tulsa in their last game 65-28, accumulating 722 total yards on offense, over half of those throwing the ball. Texas A&M snuck by Florida International 27-20 being a 29 point favorite, obviously not covering that spread due to the fact that they turned the ball over five times that game. Speaking of spreads, both teams are currently 2-1 ATS this season.

Texas A&M ranks 10th in the nation on defense, and will definitely have their hands full in this one. They have a great rush D, but are ranked 50th in the nation in pass D. QB Brandon Weeden for OK State is on absolute fire throwing 6 TDs with 0 INTs against Tulsa in their last contest. I hope OK State sees those stats and throws the ball all night. I don’t see them giving the ball to Kendall Hunter too much.

Texas A&M’s quarterback Jerrod Johnson is coming off a game where he threw the ball to the other team four times! Talk about having no confidence entering Thursday. OK State did let Tulsa get their passing yards, so maybe …

Kentucky Wildcats @ Florida Gators

Yes, Joey G is back for yet another over/under prediction. Now knock on wood, but I have not been incorrect with any of my over/under predictions thus far since joining the pass rush. I see an easy over tonight with Kentucky and Florida.

Florida hosts Kentucky tonight at 7pm.

Kentucky has stayed over 200 yards in both their passing and rushing game in each of their first three games. They have yet to turn the ball over this season. Florida, on the other hand, has been absolutely lost on offense. They looked as if they were going to lose to Miami (OH) in their opening game of the season! The only thing that they have going for them right now is their defense. They are making their opponents turn the ball over four times a game. Making Miami turn the ball over four times in their opener is what handed them that victory.

Kentucky has not been challenged too much on offense yet this year but they are putting up some stats that I am sure they are happy with. If Florida can keep up their “high turnover” mentality this season, let’s just hope it happens on the opponent’s side of the field. I see this one going over, and pretty easily.

Key Trends:

• Kentucky over is 4-0 in their last four coming off of a win.
• Kentucky over is 10-1 in their last 11 coming off a game where they covered the spread.
• Kentucky over is 5-2 in last seven conference games.
• Florida over is 4-1 in last five games.
• Florida over is 4-1 in last five as a favorite.
• Florida over is 4-1 in last five coming off of a win.

Play on …